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I missed D the first time around too. After the jumping puzzle "dungeon" area and then finding OLK as the big finale to that section, I expected that I'd already found the reward, didn't bother searching for anything else. Also at that point I had the scanner which picks up most objects, had fallen out of the habit of physically searching. I bet a lot of people miss that.
This reminds me of thoughts I had that would improve the gameplay during the endgame. I was craving speedier movement, perhaps even flight. But that scanner sounds like a cool thing. It's absurd how vertical the apartments area is, and once I pinged the item detector and saw just how many items there were to be found, I quickly just said fuck that.
Still, a novel experience and a studio worth keeping tabs on IMO. Glad I checked it out when I did.
I missed D the first time around too. After the jumping puzzle "dungeon" area and then finding OLK as the big finale to that section, I expected that I'd already found the reward, didn't bother searching for anything else. Also at that point I had the scanner which picks up most objects, had fallen out of the habit of physically searching. I bet a lot of people miss that.
This reminds me of thoughts I had that would improve the gameplay during the endgame. I was craving speedier movement, perhaps even flight. But that scanner sounds like a cool thing. It's absurd how vertical the apartments area is, and once I pinged the item detector and saw just how many items there were to be found, I quickly just said fuck that.
Still, a novel experience and a studio worth keeping tabs on IMO. Glad I checked it out when I did.
The apartments have some cool things in them - and a few quests - but most of that place is indeed barren. Personally, I found it quite weird that a game so visually rich would have such a large area that is so uninteresting and almost completely empty. Not sure if it was completely intentional, since most citizens are meant to lead dull lives, or if they simply ran out of time and budget to better flesh the apartments out.
I still went through them with a fine-toothed comb, of course, but I didn't particularly enjoy doing it, unlike every single other area in that game.
Although I loved the game warts and all, in hindsight I have very mixed feelings about the "open world with 2000 collectibles" model. It was neat finding artifacts in the world everywhere which filled out the setting - at the same time it's frustrating that they are COMPLETELY worthless to the investigation. It's almost like two separate games that just happen to be taking place at the same time.
I suspect the collectibles were the team's way of encouraging exploration outside of the need to find clues. The world is gorgeous, after all, but quite a few portions of it are huge and with very few clues or important resources. Personally, I never cared much about finding the collectibles; just got them at my own pace, as a direct consequence of me exploring everything, even if only to take in all the sights. Got almost everything, too - I think I only missed a few songs.
Having also finished this recently, I think the exploration & collectables worked well for this game as initially you have no fucking clue what is going on and just general exploration along with a few dialogues & collectables gradually builds up your knowledge of the game world. And I'm no fan of collectathons in games, but the world's uniqueness, both in its design and plot, married with the music made it a pretty calming, chill experience.
As was stated previously, the trial at the end, provided you've got the evidence, pretty much resolves itself, it was the one disappointment of the game really. All the while I'd been hoping we were building towards some epic Ace Attorney style courtroom showdown, but if you've gathered the evidence, nobody can fight back; hell the game even adapts who the culprit is based on who you implicate to a certain extent, which I guess can feel a little artificial to some extent. Good game though, probably too easily overlooked as humble choice fodder, but definitely worth the time once you get past the initially offputting woke art style.
Having also finished this recently, I think the exploration & collectables worked well for this game as initially you have no fucking clue what is going on and just general exploration along with a few dialogues & collectables gradually builds up your knowledge of the game world. And I'm no fan of collectathons in games, but the world's uniqueness, both in its design and plot, married with the music made it a pretty calming, chill experience.
As was stated previously, the trial at the end, provided you've got the evidence, pretty much resolves itself, it was the one disappointment of the game really. All the while I'd been hoping we were building towards some epic Ace Attorney style courtroom showdown, but if you've gathered the evidence, nobody can fight back; hell the game even adapts who the culprit is based on who you implicate to a certain extent, which I guess can feel a little artificial to some extent. Good game though, probably too easily overlooked as humble choice fodder, but definitely worth the time once you get past the initially offputting woke art style.
I'd be willing to bet that the team intended the trial at the end to be a moral choice of sorts; that's why there are so many culprits, and quite a few sympathetic characters. Even the cult members who are innocent of the murders - Crimson Acid and Doom Jazz - have some skeletons in their closets, and you can exploit those, if you so wish. Finding all the clues essentially lets you incriminate whoever you please.
As I said above, the fact that the game never truly acknowledges your actions when you choose to let people go free (especially the Daybreaks) was my single major disappointment with this title.
Also, an addendum: why do people consider this game's artstyle "woke"? I know there are way too many danger hairs in the gaming industry nowadays, but the general absurdity felt pretty justified here, in my view. Every single thing in Paradise Killer breathes vaporwave; normal-looking characters would just contrast way too much with everything else on the island, and not in a good way.
Also, an addendum: why do people consider this game's artstyle "woke"? I know there are way too many danger hairs in the gaming industry nowadays, but the general absurdity felt pretty justified here, in my view. Every single thing in Paradise Killer breathes vaporwave; normal-looking characters would just contrast way too much with everything else on the island, and not in a good way.
Right, but we're talking first impressions here; i.e: imagine I'm browsing through Steam and see this recommended to me, literally the first thing I see is most of the characters in the game rendered in a "woke" artstyle. It's hardly endearing itself to buyers in that regard if they're already on the lookout for telltale signs, their interest will likely end there. So I think the justification of that style only really reveals itself once you delve deeper, likely after you buy and launch the game and play it a bit. On face value alone, honestly, I probably wouldn't have looked at this game if it hadn't been in Humble Choice a few months back as my first impression was that it's a western take on Danganronpa, with a woke vibe emanating from its front facing art.
It's not even necessarilly the style's fault as such, like I've seen a lot of people grumbling about new games using the low poly art style lately, so anything new that pops up can ellicit a kneejerk "asset flip" comment because a lot of low poly art assets happen to be available and purchased via the Unity Asset Store by smaller indies, guilt by association I guess.
My problem with the game remains that the major plot point is literally hidden behind a random rock without any clues pointing to it. Whether you like the trial or not is up to your taste, but the idea behind it (you choose the plot) is sound.
My problem with the game remains that the major plot point is literally hidden behind a random rock without any clues pointing to it. Whether you like the trial or not is up to your taste, but the idea behind it (you choose the plot) is sound.
Also disappointing: behind that one rock are BOTH solutions to the main case. So it's not like you can find one and believe that solves the case, OR find the other one elsewhere and believe that solves the case. You HAVE to find them both at the same time and choose between them.
You can also use both at the same time and purge almost everyone on the island, leaving only Crimson Acid, Doom Jazz and Henry Division alive. And the judge, of course.
But I agree, the location for that is rather underwhelming. Meanwhile, something as interesting as
Eyes Kiwami's apartment
pretty much just yields some minor clues that serve more as lore fodder than anything else.
I really liked it. The setting is fantastic, the island takes on a character of it's own. I would love to see more of the setting. It's an odd mix of influences but it works.
Exploring the island, finding clues and then interrogating suspects made me feel smart. Then all of that is rewarded in the trial at the end, where I get to control the narrative.
The music is incredibly well made, it really sets the mood. To be honest, I'm not really a fan of vapourwave as a music genre, but there are few tracks that I really enjoy. It shows that the developers took music seriously.
If I were to say some negative things about the game. I would've liked the NPCs to have been a bit more reactive to my investigation instead of just stubborn denial (not just giving me info if I butter them up). I also would've liked if they were moving around instead of just being static sprites. But Paradise Killer isn't that type of game... or maybe they didn't have the budget for it.
Also there are a lot of collectibles to pick up. Very, very few of them are either quest items or reveal interesting tidbits of lore, but the vast majority is just crap. Something that other people in this thread have noted.
I never got stuck and never looked up help. Unfortunately I did however accidently read some minor spoilers in this thread, which I guess is a good thing, otherwise I would've never found
the special abilities.
I'm interested in seeing what the developers do next.
Finished this last month. I get what they were going for with the ending of the investigation/trial but I would've preferred if it was less open ended.
Didn't hate playing it but I don't think there's enough there to justify ever replaying it.
The soundtrack was probably the best part. Unfortunately when they updated the game with more tracks the separate soundtrack didn't get them added. Probably a consequence of everybody streaming music on spotify or whatever people use nowadays.
Unfortunately when they updated the game with more tracks the separate soundtrack didn't get them added. Probably a consequence of everybody streaming music on spotify or whatever people use nowadays.
I pranced around the game for 1h, which makes me the perfect reviewer - so far I cannot but help confused with the game, map-wise it's kind of a remix of Danganronpas with an open world? but the clues gathering aspect is much more in line with more detective-y games
while I'd like to whinge at the art style just like any other disgruntled boomer not much into gay parade fashion, I can't deny it has one
the mythology is probably not as complex as it appears for now, but that's for me to discover
Wow isn't this game convoluted, I'm a little over 7h in and just figured out how was the fourth seal opened, also everyone on the island is a shitty person
Paradise Killer really made me appreciate the craft in more polished similar-ish games like The Witness & Outer Wilds. Not to say that this isn't a good game in its own right, or even had the budget/resources to realistically achieve similar levels of polish, but still... By craft (which is its own reward!) I mean the visual and conceptual clarity in The Witness, which makes navigating the island very intuitive and natural compared to the confused Singapore HDB theme park jaunt in Paradise Killer. And don't get me started on the "puzzles" or detective-work in this game after getting spoiled by the playful creativity of Outer Wilds. Actually playing Paradise Killer is like... well, imagine if Bioshock was a walking simulator. It's not good.
But the vibes, man. This game justifies its existence purely on vibes like nothing I've ever seen. The shallow parody of gameplay becomes a pleasure, the neverending scavenger hunt a delight, as long as you get to do it in Paradise 24. I can't even pinpoint what it is exactly that Paradise Killer does so well. Sure the city pop vaporwave soundtrack is nice, but so are lots of other soundtracks these days. Sure, the game looks nice but there are certainly much nicer looking titles out there. And it sure as hell isn't the gameplay. The world they've built is very imaginative and full of intrigue, but what inherent value does that have in a vidya game? Maybe it's an elusive combination of those things. There's been loads of redundant thinkpieces written about vaporwave as nostalgia for a past that its listeners never experienced in the first place, and there's something similar to the aesthetics of Paradise Killer. The whole game has an undercurrent of a last dance of your life (It's even in a title of one song!) - an end of an era that you have to let go, and hope for a rebirth.
The world the devs built is intriguing, and the characters in there behave like its actual inhabitants. They don't loredump you do death but you infer the surreal tone of the setting as you go about your business in there - something Disco Elysium also did exceptionally well. Having an eternal cycle of apocalypse and rebirth that ends in a ritual slaughter in the small pocket dimension(?) these immortal maniacs call home is the most obvious thing to everyone there. The island actually looks like something that could in theory sustain a society like that too. The characters you meet are colorful and personable. The men have an eternal Handsome Thursday going on, but the women are unfortunately a bit lacking in eye candy.
And you can't really talk about Paradise Killer without pimping up its soundtrack. There are loads of bangers and it's not nearly as vaporwave-dominant as lazy reviews might have you believe. Plenty of quality city pop pastiches and mutant disco throwbacks. And the goddamn saxophone player deserves a medal for his solos. This is some Born To Run level honking.
Oh, yeah, so there's a murder to solve and a bunch of colorful suspects. The investigation consists of finding items that function as conversation triggers, matching alibis, cross-referencing stories. Your helpful PDA keeps track of clues, and overall the detective work is pretty lightweight. It makes sense in some way, your character "was born to investigate" after all, so she can make plenty of inferences on her own, but overall progressing in Paradise Killer is mostly just a matter of sleuthing for junk around the island and confronting suspects with whatever incriminating evidence you find. As others have noted, the suspects' reactions on being grilled are underwhelming. They pretty much just deny everything and you can't press them further about anything.
"I found your knife at the beach below the crime scene."
"Oh, thanks! I've been looking for it everywhere."
"It's evidence tho. I'll keep it."
Even the few cases where the suspects give some plausible explanations for inconsistencies (sure, a grand marshal's phone might use military encryption which bounces the signal via multiple base stations, making her location hard to pinpoint based on that) but those are forgotten at the time of trial when everyone pretty much not only confesses but starts pointing fingers at co-conspirators too. The trial was otherwise presented well and had a nice dramatic flow, and the Judge is another delightful character who's only present in that pivotal scene (and the Marshal goes absolutely ballistic if you accuse her of any crimes - calling your chonky lady detective every variant of a motherfucking whore in Romanian ). The aftermath is also underwhelming. You might have some more dirt on some other suspects you didn't have time to accuse during the trial, but no dialogue options to press the issue further (save for one -
you can confront The Architect with knowledge of her secret son, but again she just blanks you out with a total denial
). There's certainly room for improvement here for Kaizen's subsequent games.
I will never again write such a negative-sounding review of a game I truly enjoyed. If you're even remotely curious of the vibes of the game, buy it in the next sale.
I repeat, The shallow parody of gameplay becomes a pleasure, the neverending scavenger hunt a delight, as long as you get to do it in Paradise 24. Try this out.
I've heard this game compared to Danganronpa, which I like, but man, the characters are WAY too faggy looking. Danganronpa characters already look pretty faggy, but at least it's a Japanese game so the artstyle's a little more authentic and not some abominable western/anime hybrid where every male character is suspiciously shirtless and/or wearing low-cut jeans.
I've heard this game compared to Danganronpa, which I like, but man, the characters are WAY too faggy looking. Danganronpa characters already look pretty faggy, but at least it's a Japanese game so the artstyle's a little more authentic and not some abominable western/anime hybrid where every male character is suspiciously shirtless and/or wearing low-cut jeans.
). The aftermath is also underwhelming. You might have some more dirt on some other suspects you didn't have time to accuse during the trial, but no dialogue options to press the issue further (save for one -
